Thursday, June 26, 2008

Thought I'd post a pic of the new car. As you can see it was literally parked in a field next to a barn owned by this old Peugeot nut. I think I counted a half-dozen Peugeots of various years but there may have been more hidden in the out buildings. The car next to ours is an '87 STi and next to that is an '89 Turbo wagon. The test drive was an adventure as the car hadn't been licensed in a couple of years and had no insurance so we weren't even allowed to drive it, we had to just ride along. However the old guy wasn't shy about proving that it ran good and strong so we ended up buying it without ever taking the wheel ourselves!

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Just when I'd really started to like Pugly, we found out our engine is crap. There are multiple cracks in the head that run from the valve seats to the water jacket or spark plug holes. The nastier problem is the piston with a big chunk eroded away from one edge. I'm pretty sure the cylinder wall is f***ed up to the point that there's no way we can fix this engine and stay anywhere near our $500 budget. So, we started a search for a new engine and have so far come up empty handed. Not just because parts are difficult to find for an old Peugeot 505, but because Pug enthusiasts are proving to be really flaky folks that seem incapable of answering an email or a phone message. I mean, really, is it so hard to answer an inquiry generated by an ad that YOU placed concerning an item YOU want to sell?? What's a guy got to do to get some information out of a Pug owner anyway? As luck would have it, the need for a new engine became a moot point a few days ago. A really decent (OK, OK, decent for an old POS)505 Turbo S showed up on Craigslist. It was reasonably within our price range and once we'd begged the guy down to $500, found ourselves in possession of car that actually runs pretty well. The body is not as nice as the other car, but it's good enough for a cheapo race car. I'm quite pleased with the find. Most of the stuff we need to do to the car falls under the safety category, such as brakes. Everything else that doesn't work we don't want anyway, such as air-conditioning. Once we buy down the cost of the car by selling off everything we don't need, we can replace the few hoses and fiddly bits that look a little rough.

I hope someone reminds me to answer the ads for the parts I want to sell.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

We seem to have found a prerequisite for owning a Peugeot. You are never allowed to return another phone call. I wonder how long it will take to hit us? Hopefully, it's just a symptom of people trying to sell one....

Spiders...why did it have to be spiders?Obviously, I need to apologize. The spiders are mine, and I put them there on purpose, and here's why: Those aren't just any spiders! Those are French nano-spiders which I liberated from the secret (NOT) Arachnitech facility in Pacific WA. OK, OK ......liberated is to strong a statement, the creepy little things were surrendered to me on request and further more I think they are to big to be called nano. Regardless of how I acquired them or their size I have programed them to begin rebuilding the 505 from the inside out. As I see it there are only one or two issues with this rebuild: 1. The seats will be reproduced with silk coverings and could easily be stained, 2. The rest of the car will also be made of silk or nano-silk,....whatever. More later,Scott

Thursday, June 5, 2008

When I first looked at our 505 after it had been sitting in the previous owners front yard for 5 years, I thought to myself, "That thing looks like it'll have a pretty sizable spider population in a few weeks, I'd better hose it down with the pressure washer before we get too deep into the project." Heeding the wisdom of my own words for a change, I attacked the gestating hordes of spiderlings with 2200psi of pure hydraulic force.

Apparently I missed some as the car is now swarming with millions of tiny yellow spiders. Nasty.